Catch Me
by Saywhaaaat518
Summary: "Why didn't you come when I shouted for you? I needed you, Stefan, and you were nowhere to be found!" The last thing Elena saw before burying her face in Damon's shoulder was Stefan the Ripper looking very guilty for someone who turned off his humanity.
1. Chapter 1

**Is it weird that this idea came to me in a dream?**

_Italics: Elena's thoughts_

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><p>Parties. Why did she always insist on going to parties? Why couldn't she ever be the good girl who stayed home on a Friday night to study? Especially because lately she spent the entire night getting completely, horribly wasted. And most especially when the party was being held by none other than Stefan Salvatore, which, Elena had to admit, was probably why she kept taking drink after drink after drink. It helped drown out her emotions and feelings and keep them from eating away at her like they always did. And with that thought she took another drink.<p>

"You know, I think you need to cut back on the vodka. You're starting to turn into an alcoholic," came that annoying, mocking voice from behind her. _And __emotionless, __can__'__t __forget __emotionless._

"I could say the same about you, Stefan. Maybe you should start going to bloodaholics anonymous," Elena slurred back.

"Now, now, Elena, you and I both know that I have it completely under control," he winked at her. "Where are you off to?" he added as he amusedly watched her stumble off into the crowded living room.

"To find another drink and wallow in self-pity" she waved him off and continued walking, although tripping might have been a better word.

"So, if you're not having fun, why did you come?" Stefan chuckled, clearly enjoying her drunken display.

_Because even though I hate you, I can't stand to be away from you._

Elena quickly spun around to reply, only to run head first into Stefan, who was standing way too close to her for comfort. She stumbled backwards, and just before she hit the ground his arm encircled her waist, and he pulled her back up into his chest.

_And because no matter how many times you say you've turned off your humanity, you never fail to catch me when I fall._

Elena scowled at her thoughts and pushed herself away from Stefan, who she was angry to see was still smirking at her. How could she still have hope that she could save him? He was being so difficult.

"Why do you always catch me, Stefan? I know it would be so much more amusing for you to just watch me fall," she spat.

"Klaus would have my head," he replied with a shrug.

"Right. Goodnight Stefan. It's time to go home," she said while quickly spinning away from him once more, and regretting it immediately when she became dizzy and almost fell flat on her face in the process.

"Don't start this again," Stefan growled, referring to her attempt to drive home and probably remembering the night when she dangerously plunged off of the high school bleachers in a drunken haze. His hand flew out and grabbed her waist, spinning her towards him.

"You can't drive." As he said this, he dipped his hand into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out the keys to her car.

"Hey!" Elena protested, but it was too late. Stefan already tossed the keys over his head, resulting in them landing somewhere amidst the crowd of dancing teenagers. She'd never find them now.

"You can stay here tonight," Stefan told her, mocking her again.

"Can't you just drive me home?" she said.

"I can't very well leave my own party, now can I? What's wrong? Don't you trust me enough to stay here?" he teased.

"As a matter of fact…" Elena mumbled under her breath.

"Up you go, Elena! Time for you to sleep off your buzz." And with that, he whisked the girl who he was put in charge of up and over his shoulder and carried her upstairs, where he plopped her down onto his own bed.

"I don't want to stay here," Elena whined as he pulled back the blankets. There were too many memories involving this bed, and with the alcohol in her system, she would never be able to push them back now. Because, who was she kidding before? It never helped keep her thoughts away for too long. It only helped to dull the pain, even if only a small amount.

"I don't really care what you want," Stefan the Ripper retorted as he slipped off her sneakers and tucked her into the blankets.

"I've noticed. You don't really care about anything anymore, save for blood."

"And fulfilling Klaus' orders," he added.

"How could I forget?" Elena whispered sarcastically, turning away from him.

"Goodnight, Elena, sleep well." And with that, Stefan turned away and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him and engulfing Elena in darkness in the process.

She didn't know when she had eventually fallen asleep, but she did know that it wasn't very long until she was waking up. Elena sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. The room was still dark, which told her that it was still the middle of the night, so what had woken her up? And then she heard it, the noise that had pulled her out of her hallucinatory dreams: the loud CREEEEAK! of the bedroom door slowly being pushed open.

"Stefan?" she whispered, even though her gut feeling told her that it was not Stefan who was cautiously opening up the door. Even though this new Stefan, the one compelled by Klaus, made her worried, his presence would never paralyze her with a fear this intense.

The door continued to open, allowing some light from the hallway to shine over the aged wooden floor. Fear stabbed at Elena again as she saw a pair of bright yellow eyes in the shadow of the door.

"Stefan!" she whispered louder, hoping he could hear her and would come to her aide.

She could hear whatever this yellow-eyed creature was moving closer to her bed. Elena slowly sat up, willing herself to be brave. She just had to make it to the doorway and away from whatever it was that was stalking her in the room. Quietly, she perched herself up in bed. She could hear the creature getting closer to her, and right as it was only a couple of steps away from the bed, Elena jumped. She leapt off the bed and almost made it to the door when the thing grabbed her, pulling her to the ground.

"STEFAN!" she creamed as she was pulled across the floor. Over and over she shouted his name, but he didn't come.

Thinking quickly, Elena kicked out with her feet, coming into contact with whatever was pulling her. It let go, allowing her to lunge away, but it was only a second before it grabbed onto her again. She shouted out Stefan's name one more time before the bedroom light flicked on and the creature disappeared.

Elena immediately moved over to the wall and wrapped her arms around her legs, her entire body trembling.

"Elena, what happened?"

"Damon," she sobbed, and in a blur he was beside her, pulling her into his arms.

"Something attacked me. I don't know what it was. It's eyes-" she choked out.

"What's all the commotion in here?" Stefan's voice came from the hallway. His tone was joking at first, but it quickly turned to concern when he saw a very vulnerable Elena shaking on the floor. "What's going on?"

"Why didn't you come when I shouted for you? I needed you, Stefan, and you were nowhere to be found!"

The last thing Elena saw before burying her face in Damon's shoulder was Stefan the Ripper looking very guilty for someone who turned off his humanity.

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><p><strong><em>Author's Note: So I'm kind of acting on an impulse here. I dreamt up this entire chapter the other night, no lie, and when I woke up I just had to write it out. So I did, and my brain was just whirling with thoughts for chapters to come, and I decided what-the-heck, I'll just post it. I have an idea as to where I want this story to go, and how I want to get there, but I figured I'll just let it play out and see where the story takes me. <em>**

**_So, please let me know what you thought. I always appreciate any sort of comment, whether it be you love it or you hate it, so please review! _**

**_Thank you for reading :)_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer: Because I forgot to do it in the first chapter, nothing from the Vampire Diaries belongs to me._**

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><p>"Describe it," Stefan ordered.<p>

He, Damon and Elena were sitting in the living room, trying to figure out what the creature was. Stefan had sent the party guests, along with his female victims for the night, straight home as soon as they came down from the bedroom.

"I can't describe it, Stefan! I didn't see it," she groaned, feeling like this was the millionth time that she had said that.

"Not at all? Not even its shadow?"

"No, it stayed out of the light. I just saw… its eyes…" Every time that she thought of those bright yellow eyes, a tremor of fear shook down her spine. She had seen a lot of terrifying things in the past year, but nothing that had scared her this much.

Damon stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm gonna get you something to drink," he said quietly.

"No more vodka, please," she pleaded.

"'Course not."

As soon as he was gone, Stefan flew up and out of his seat from the chair and moved to Damon's place next to Elena on the couch.

"Elena-"

"Don't. Where were you, Stefan? I thought your job was to protect me?" she growled, clearly angry and upset with him, and also a little annoyed with herself.

Though she would never voice it out loud, Elena knew that the Stefan she loved, the one that cared about her, was gone. No, she was not giving up on him, she would never do that. It might make her seem stubborn, and ignorant, but she knew that she could help him. Eventually, he would come back to her. But sometimes, even though **her** Stefan wasn't here right now… sometimes she forgot that. It was easy to lose that tough girl composure when Stefan was around. It was easy to forget that he didn't actually care about her because of the fact that he was physically here, and she had gone so long without him. And tonight was just another of those nights were she forgot everything other than the fact that he was here, and she felt foolish thinking that he would have come to save her like he used to.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Elena's head quickly snapped up, and she inwardly scowled at herself for losing that tough girl act once again.

_Poker__face,__Elena._"No you're not. The only thing that you're sorry for is that I almost got killed, which most certainly would have gotten you killed as well."

Stefan opened his mouth to retort, but thankfully Damon chose that minute to walk back into the living room with a mug of something steaming hot in his hand, which he silently gave to Elena.

"Hot chocolate?" she asked with an amused smile on her face.

"Yeah… should I have sprung for something else?" he asked, his cheeky grin slipping off his face at the thought that he might have made things worse for her.

"No, it's perfect," she responded truthfully, at which Stefan rolled his eyes.

"Elena, I heard you saw a monster."

Elena mentally cringed at that cocky, English accent. The only thing she hated more than Klaus at this point in time was his annoying sister.

"Well, I'm definitely seeing one right now," she shot back, earning herself a smirk from Damon and even a tiny chuckle from Stefan.

"Why you little-" Rebekah started, her eyes turning red and the dark veins underneath her eyes popping out.

In a flash, Stefan was out of his seat and restraining the blonde vampire. "Don't Rebekah! You know Klaus's orders!"

Rebekah sighed and nodded, her face returning to its normal, beautiful state. "I know, I wasn't going to hurt her. I just wanted to scare her," she said sweetly, and Elena rolled her eyes.

"I think I should get you home now, Elena," Damon said, and she immediately agreed and headed upstairs to grab her shoes and bag. As she walked past Rebekah, she said, "And just for the record, I'm not scared of you," causing the vampire to roll her eyes.

Once she left the room, Stefan turned to Damon. "Do you always turn to jelly when Elena's around?"

"I think I'm a little bit stronger than jelly. I'd say I'm more like peanut butter. It's much better at sticking things together, hence stronger," Damon retorted, raising his eyebrows in his characteristic move.

"Right," Stefan scoffed, "I've never seen you so… insecure about yourself before."

"And I've never seen you playing the role of the bad guy."

"It's so much easier," Stefan responded.

"Easy now, boys, your princess is coming back," Rebekah interrupted right before Elena entered the room.

"My keys…" she trailed off, glaring at Stefan, who pulled them out of his pocket and tossed them to Damon.

"Drive carefully. You wouldn't want me to have to kill you if you crash," Stefan smirked.

Now it was Damon's turn to scoff at Stefan. "Right. You and I both know you wouldn't. You are the way you are because you wanted to save me, remember brother?" he threw back sarcastically.

"Alright, stop!" Elena shouted, quickly moving in between them, like she always did. "Let's just go, Damon," she then said softly, placing her hands on his chest and pushing him backwards.

"Goodnight, Elena." And then Stefan did something that would wreak havoc upon everyone in the room: he leaned down and brushed his lips over Elena's forehead, his eyes never leaving Damon's.

Elena, losing her composure yet again that night, shut her eyes, savoring the moment. Rebekah, from her spot in the corner, let out a ferocious cry of jealousy. And Damon… Damon quickly pushed Elena out of the way and lunged at Stefan, throwing him into the couch. The two vampire brothers twisted and turned in a blur of fangs and punches.

"Stop it!" Elena screamed at them.

"I hope he rips Damon's throat out," Rebekah laughed, walking over to Elena, who promptly reached into her bag before punching the vampire girl in the stomach, jabbing one of Alaric's stakes right into her.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," Elena whispered in a dangerously low voice.

Rebekah winced in pain and doubled over, clutching at the stake in her stomach. And then just as quickly she stood up and pulled it out, tossing it to the corner of the room, completely unharmed by what Elena had done.

"I'm an Original, sweetheart. It's going to take a lot more than that to hurt me."

For the second time that night her eyes turned deadly, her fangs barred, and she knocked Elena to the ground with an almighty BANG! She towered over her, and Elena's breath caught in her throat just as Damon and Stefan both grabbed one of Rebekah's arms and pulled her back.

"Go, Damon, get her out of here!" Stefan growled as he took full control and threw Rebekah back.

As fast as lightening, Damon lifted Elena up off the floor and carried her out to the car. Only when he started to buckle her seat belt for her did Elena finally move.

"I can do it myself, just get me home, please," and in an instant Damon was putting the car into gear and speeding off toward her home.

Once they were well away from the Boarding House, Elena rested her hand gently against Damon's arm. "Hey, slow down there, killer," she said in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere in the car. Damon just looked over at her, giving her that look, the one that said, "Don't be stupid, Elena," before stepping down harder on the gas pedal.

In no time, thanks in part to Damon's fast driving, they made it to the Gilbert household. Damon opened the car door for Elena and quickly whisked her inside and up to her bedroom.

"I'll wait outside while you change," he said quietly before shutting the door, giving her a few minutes of privacy.

Silently, and while trying to keep all thoughts of tonight out of her head, she changed into a pair of sweats and then opened the door to let Damon in, before jumping into her bed.

"Elena? Stefan might not be sorry… but I am," Damon told her, breaking the silence between them.

"For what?"

"I promised that I would protect you, and I didn't. And I promised that I would never let my brother hurt you again, but look what I let him do tonight," he cried, and Elena was almost at a loss for words. Ever since Stefan left, Damon had become a whole new person. **This** Damon was more sensitive, and was filled more with emotions and less with vampire instinct.

"Damon, it's not your fault. You can't spend every waking minute watching over me, that's impossible. And… and you can't stop Stefan from being…"

"Stefan?" Damon offered.

"No, this isn't Stefan."

"This **is**Stefan, Elena. This is Stefan before you knew him, and this is the only Stefan you'll ever know again," Damon tried to convince her, like he spent a lot of his time doing.

"No," Elena said forcefully, "Let's please not do this tonight. I'm exhausted," she added in a softer tone.

"Right, of course. Get some sleep," Damon nodded, moving toward the door.

"Wait! Damon… can you stay?" she asked quietly, muffling her voice against her pillow.

"Sorry, didn't catch that," Damon smirked, his hand cupping his ear for greater effect.

"I said can you stay? I'm still a little spooked…"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Damon dove head first onto the bed. And with a laugh, Elena shoved him right off, but in a blur he missed the ground and landed upright, his feet planted firmly on the floor.

"It was worth a shot," he winked while moving over to the bench in front of the window. "Go to sleep, Elena. You're safe now," he added, his tone more sincere instead of joking.

"Goodnight," Elena whispered before turning onto her side and shutting her eyes tight.

Her dreams were filled with yellow-eyed monsters, deep pits filled with fire, and a vampire-werewolf hybrid. She awoke from her sleep with a deep gasp for air, all thoughts of her dream soaring right out the window as the sun streamed in to take its place.

"Elena? Geez, I come in to wake you up, it's almost noon, and you reward me by giving me a heart attack thinking that you're having a heart attack!" Jeremy exclaimed as he sat on the edge of her bed. "What were you dreaming of?"

"I… I can't remember. Sorry, Jer," she answered.

"Alright, well let me ask you another question. What is **he**-" he jabbed his finger over his shoulder where they both could hear Ric and Damon's voices carry up the stairs and into the bedroom, "-doing here?"

"Oh, that, well I sort of got attacked last night," she told him, and watched as the frustrated expression on his face transformed into one of concern.

"Oh! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Damon just brought me home, and I was still sort of spooked so he stayed to, you know, keep watch."

"What was it that attacked you?" he brother questioned further.

"I don't know. I didn't see it." The fact that she had to admit yet again that she never even got to see her attacker made Elena feel very lame, like she didn't pay enough attention when it was all happening. "All I could see was its eyes. It stayed in the shadows."

"Maybe it was a ghost," Jeremy joked as he got up, "but I'm glad you're okay," he added before leaving the room.

Elena stared at herself in the mirror, a puzzled expression on her face. For some reason, the word "ghost" stuck with her. She knew it couldn't have been a ghost; ghost's didn't have yellow eyes, unless you counted the ones from Ghost Whisperer, which secretly Elena loved to watch on those late nights that she was home alone. _Am__I__turning__into__a__ghost__whisperer?__Can__I__see__ghosts__now?_"Cool it, Elena, you're not a ghost whisperer," she outwardly scolded her overactive imagination. _Besides,__ghosts__can__'__t__grab__onto__you._ So, if it wasn't a ghost, what could it have been? Unless ghosts could suddenly manifest themselves and have the ability to touch humans now- But no, Bonnie put a stop to that ghost business for good. But this fact didn't help make sense of the situation, it only confused her further.

Whatever that thing was that was in the room with her gave her a feeling that there was a ghost around, that tingly spine and hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck feeling, but whatever it was had a more evil and sinister feel than a "normal" ghost would, and that realization gave Elena chills all over again.

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><p><strong><em>Author's Note:<em> Alright, so that was chapter two. It's going to start getting a little AU in chapters to come. It's not really going to follow Season Three's timeline, but hopefully that doesn't bother anyone too much. I thought I'd show a sweet little moment between Damon and Elena, because even though I don't ship them, I do love their relationship, and how much Damon cares about her. Never fear though, there will definitely be more Stefan-Elena moments in future chapters.**

**Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and please let me know what you think. Anything is welcomed :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries, its plot nor its characters, do not belong to me. I'm simply borrowing them.**_

_**PS: Here's to all the Stefan/Elena lovers.**_

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><p>"Bonnie, I told you already, I don't know. We'll talk about it later, okay? Maybe then we can make sense of the situation. Yeah, I gotta go, someone's at the door. I'll see you in class." Elena flipped shut her phone before grabbing her jacket and bag and flying down the stairs to answer the door.<p>

"Stefan… what are you doing here?" The smile she put on to greet her guest immediately vanished from her face and was replaced with a grimace.

"Don't look so excited to see me, Elena," Stefan laughed.

"Huh, wonder why I'm not," Elena said while stepping outside. "I'm going to school, Ric, I'll see you in history!" she then announced before shutting the door behind her. "You never answered my question: what are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd drive you to school today," he shrugged.

"I'll pass."

"No, really, I have a bad feeling that your car is going to blow up on the way to school today, and you know how I get about my feelings. Just humor me," he said with a wink while opening up the passenger side door for her.

Elena shut her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down before answering with a short, "Fine!"

They drove in the direction of the school, with Stefan amusingly trying to start several conversations that began with, "Nice weather we're having," or "What do you think the chances are of the Timber Wolves having a good season?"

After a while, Elena finally had it. "Unless we're going to talk about how to turn your humanity back on, I don't want to talk at all," she snapped at him, causing Stefan to chuckle.

"You've gotta give up on that. This is me, I'm here to-"

"Where are we going? The school is back that way!"

Stefan looked over to see Elena twisting in her seat trying to look back down the road in the direction of the school. "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you: I don't want to go to school today," he said lightly, turning to face the road again.

"Well, I do, so drop me off and you can go do whatever it was that you do when you ditch," Elena protested.

"Mmm… tempting, since you're being so catty this morning, but no. How can I keep an eye on you if you're at school and I'm not?"

"You do it while you're out feeding," she muttered under her breath, but Stefan ignored her, instead choosing to say, "Just skip with me."

When Elena started shaking her head he added, "I'll let you choose what we do."

"Really?" Elena asked, whipping her head in his direction. "Then let's go to the falls," and Stefan did exactly as she said.

When they got there, Elena tore off her jacket and left it with her bag in the car.

"I want to climb today," she told him.

"Okay, and which falls will we be climbing?" he asked, and with a devious smile Elena turned and faced the tallest water fall in the area.

"Well, that'll take all day. You're a human blood bag, Elena, not Superwoman," Stefan groaned.

"I'm much more than a human blood bag, Stefan, you'll see," she replied, heading towards the water fall.

"Right, of course you are, my mistake."

And so they climbed… and they climbed… and they climbed until finally they both reached the top of the water fall. Elena doubled over, panting, but Stefan didn't look phased by the climb at all. Once she finally caught her breath, Elena moved over to the edge of the falls. It was quite a long way down, but even so she could still feel the spray of the falls connecting with the water below on her face. She crouched down and dipped her hand in the water, letting the coolness of it spread throughout her body.

"Elena," Stefan warned.

"Scared I'm going to fall?" she asked, not bothering to look towards him.

"Klaus wants you alive, and that fall would most certainly kill you."

"Don't worry, Stefan, I'm not going to fall," she said while standing up. "I'm gonna jump."

And before he could do anything to stop her, Elena plunged over the edge of the waterfall.

"ELENA!"

She twisted and turned through the air, gaining speed as she got closer and closer to the water below. She braced herself for the impact, knowing that it was going to hurt, when something collided with her in midair. They both crashed into the water, but quickly broke the surface only seconds later, and then Elena was being dragged to more shallow waters.

"Damn it, Elena! What the **hell** were you thinking?" Stefan shouted, his voice stabbing at her with anger. He was already out of the water and wall away from her on the shore.

"I was thinking that you would catch me, because somehow you always do," she said back.

"Klaus-"

"Damn it, Stefan!" she interrupted, imitating him from moments before. "Enough about Klaus! You turned off your humanity, and that is stronger than any kind of compulsion. If you didn't care about me like you say you don't, you wouldn't have caught me when I fell off the bleachers, you wouldn't always be there to catch me every time I trip, and you wouldn't have jumped after me now!" she shouted, breathing deeply.

"If you didn't still love me, you'd just let me die," she added in a quieter tone.

In an instant, Stefan was back in the water and standing right in front of her, his fangs barred and the dark veins under his eyes popping out. "I can feed on you now, if you'd like," he hissed.

"Do it. You've done it already. There's nothing stopping you from doing it now," she dared him while holding her wrist in front of his face.

Stefan could both smell and hear the blood pumping throughout her body. He remembered the last time he tasted her blood, loving it and hating it at the exact same time; loved it for the obvious reason, because she tasted SO good, and hated it because… because it was Elena and he loved her. That feeling, that one of total love and passion started to creep through the compulsion, and Stefan wanted it to. But… NO! He couldn't let it. Klaus's orders… and just like that the feeling was gone, and Elena was speaking again.

"But you won't," she whispered, moving her hand to gently cup his cheek, "You won't do it because no matter what you say, Stefan, somewhere in there, somewhere behind that compulsion, you love me, and you would never hurt me. I know you, Stefan, and I know that you can overcome this. And no matter how many times you tell me to, I will never give up on you because I love you, Stefan, so much." By now, she had moved closer to him, their bodies were almost touching. "You've always been there to catch me when I fall, and soon it's going to be my turn to catch you. I promise you, that day will come."

And then she reached up on her tiptoes and rested her lips upon the veins underneath his eyes. She knew it was risky, and that she would end up getting hurt, whether physically or emotionally she didn't know, but she just had to do it.

But what was most surprising, and what pushed Elena to keep trying to bring him back to her even more, was the fact that he let her. He didn't throw her off, or scream at her to just leave him alone. Of course, he didn't kiss her back either, but that didn't matter to her. All that mattered was that he let her, and that was enough for her. That was a start.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>_**So chapter three is now at a close. I think Elena is finally starting to get somewhere with Stefan. Agree? Disagree? Hope that it's going to happen soon? Let me know what you think. And feel free to criticize, compliment, offer suggestions, or just drop in to say hey. I love any and all kinds of feedback. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and added this story to their alerts so far. And as always, thank you for reading :)**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries, its plot nor its characters, do not belong to me. I'm simply borrowing them.**_

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><p>When Stefan dropped Elena off at her house, they were both surprised to find that Bonnie's car was parked in the driveway.<p>

"Look, Stefan," Elena began, but he just shook his head and drove off, leaving her alone to deal with the millions of questions her best friend undoubtedly had for her. The moment she walked through the front door, Bonnie jumped out of Elena's room and stood at the top of the stairs, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"What the _hell_, Elena?" was all she said, her voice cross, but was also laced with worry.

"I got kidnapped," Elena shrugged, making her way up the stairs.

"That's all I'm going to get? Jesus, Elena, I was worried sick all day. And now I find out that you were with Stefan? I deserve a little more than that," Bonnie exclaimed, and Elena had to admit that she was right.

"Alright, alright. Stefan showed up this morning complaining about not wanting to go to school- Did something bad happen there, by the way? I'm still not sure why he didn't want to go."

"Not unless you count Rebekah being nominated for Homecoming Queen as bad," Bonnie said as she rolled her eyes.

Elena's eyes, however, widened before she threw her head back and let out a laugh. "Rebekah was nominated? How?" she chuckled.

"I don't know. It's not even like she's been here that long. But you're running up against her," Bonnie responded nonchalantly, though she had a smile on her face and her eyes twinkled with excitement.

"I got nominated?"

"Mhm, and you would have known that had you gone to school today. Now stop you're dawdling and finish!"

"So we went to the falls and climbed to the top of the highest one, and I jumped off, and then Stefan-" Elena tried to quickly skim through the "diving off the cliff" part, knowing full well that her witch best friend would freak, however the witch was smart and wasn't going to let her skip over that part.

"You WHAT?" Bonnie screeched.

"I… dove off… the edge of the waterfall… ?" Elena faded off into a question, trying to make it sound less bad, and shrinking under her friend's gaze.

"You jumped off the edge of the waterfall… Elena… what? I think you need to get your head examined. You're going crazy," Bonnie scoffed, shaking her head.

"I knew I was going to be okay. Stefan was there," Elena shrugged, moving over to stand in front of the mirror and pulling her hair into a messy ponytail.

"That doesn't make it okay, Elena! Stefan could have very well just let you plunge right off the edge and not give a care in the world. That was so stupid!"

"He wouldn't have just stood back and let me do it, Bonnie. This is Stefan we're talking about!" Elena exclaimed, trying to hide the hurt in her voice.

No one believed in Stefan the way that she did. Every single person that knew him had given up hope that he would ever return, and they all tried to convince Elena to do the same. Bonnie was normally very good at keeping her thoughts to herself, and Elena greatly appreciated that. It was nice to have one person not criticize her and make her feel like she was wasting her time, and it hurt to hear Bonnie finally say that she had given up on him too.

"This Stefan doesn't care, Elena," Bonnie whispered sadly, shaking her head once more.

"Oh, is that so? If he doesn't care why would he have caught me? If he doesn't care, why did he let me kiss him afterwards? You don't know anything about him, Bonnie," Elena cried out. "You have no right to sit there and judge me and judge him, and make accusations about him. He is in there, somewhere! I don't care what you or Damon or Caroline or Ric have to say! I don't care that Stefan says he doesn't love me anymore! I don't care that no one else believes that he will come back! Because I know he will! Because I love him, and I am not abandoning him. I have hope that he will come back. I know he will. He has to…"

At this point, Elena's voice cracked and she broke off into terrible, heart wrenching sobs, letting the tears overcome her and cause her to slide to the floor. "He has to come back to me. He has to," she whispered over and over, her body shaking with sorrow.

Bonnie's heart broke for her best friend, and she quickly dropped to the ground next to her and pulled her into her arms, letting her lean and cry on her shoulder.

"Shh, Elena, shh. It's okay. It'll be okay," Bonnie whispered, repeating the words again and again.

Neither of them knew how long they sat there, but eventually Elena's tears subsided, though she still clung onto Bonnie.

"It's just so hard," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "I can't give up on him, Bonnie. I can't. He'd never give up on me. But everyone is telling me to just move on, and sometimes I want to. Sometimes I just want to take the easy way out and admit that he's never coming back, but then I think back about everything we've overcome and everything we've accomplished, and it wouldn't be fair of me to just quit now. I know he's in there. It's just so hard being the only one who believes in him. I'm alone."

Elena had normally been very good about keeping these feelings at bay. Bonnie rarely ever saw her get upset over Stefan these days. She played the part of the strong girlfriend very well, and she had everyone fooled, everyone except Bonnie. She knew that Elena eventually would succumb to the pain; there was no way that she couldn't. She had done so well so far, and Bonnie silently took pride in her best friend's strength. But it was also normal for her to be feeling this way as well.

"Elena, you're not alone. We're all here for you. We are all trying; it's just harder for us to believe in him than it is for you. You and Stefan love each other, and that bond is what's making it so easy for you to believe that one day he'll be able to turn his humanity back on. We don't have the kind of strength or hope that you do, but that doesn't mean we're not here for you. At the very least, I will always be here. I believe it's going to be very hard, but I do have a little bit of hope that you'll be able to bring him back. It's just harder for us, Elena, you have to understand," Bonnie tried to explain.

"I do, of course, I do. And I get it too, it doesn't look like there's any hope that he'll come back, but I always have to believe, and you have to understand that too," Elena told her, and Bonnie nodded.

"I just want him to come back, Bonnie," Elena whispered, succumbing to tears once again.

Bonnie let her cry, knowing full well that this is what Elena needed. She needed to be able to let her emotions overtake her desire for Stefan to return, at least just this once. She could be strong again tomorrow, but right now what she needed was to let it all out, all of her doubts, all of her fears, and Bonnie would let her do that. Elena never had to hide with her. And she would wait with her until Elena was ready to put on the tough girl face again, and then they would face this problem together.

Right then and there, Bonnie vowed to not give up on her best friend. She might not have any hope for Stefan on her own, but she had to try and help Elena, she owed her that much. Besides, what were best friends for if not to give strength to each other, and to be there for one another?

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: I am so sorry for how long it took me to update! I had a little bit of writer's block, and then a long Thanksgiving vacation (I hope everyone had a good holiday by the way!) I know, excuses, excuses, but I'm sorry! I literally have so many ideas for SO many different stories swirling around in my head, it's hard to keep up at times with each one. But please stay with me. And as always, let me know what you think of this chapter, or any previous chapters, or just hit me up with anything. I seriously love hearing from you guys, you're all great.<strong>_

**_And of course, thank you, thank you, thank you for reading! :)_**


	5. Chapter 5

__**Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries, its plot nor its characters, do not belong to me. I'm simply borrowing them.**__

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><p><em>She stared down into a deep pit. It seemed to last for ages. Up from it raised scorching flames. It licked and nipped at the ground, and the trees. The village was quiet, except for the sound of a male's voice chanting in Latin by the flames. She couldn't see where the man was, but he was near. It almost sounded as if he was standing behind her, but even when she spun around she saw nothing. The flames rose higher and burned hotter and a screechy voice echoed up from in the pit. "You want to make a deal?" the voice asked. "Yes," the male chanter responded, and she recognized his voice immediately. It was Klaus, and his words were coming out of her mouth. "Then you know what to do." She felt a tearing at her arm, and looked down to see that she was holding a knife and had just sliced up her arm. Blood trickled down the arm and deep into the pit. The flames burst up, engulfing her and then -<em>

Elena sat bolt upright, gasping for air. She pushed the hair out of her eyes and felt that her forehead was drenched in sweat. She heard a whoosh of air from her right and when she turned to look and see what it was, she gasped again and jumped backwards.

Damon was sitting right next to her, looking at her in concern.

"You alright there, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Bad dream," she moaned, trying to piece together everything that happened so that it wouldn't slip out of her conscious mind just yet. "It was of Klaus, and some deep flaming pit. And this voice asking him if he wanted to make a deal, and then he cut his arm, and the blood went into the pit, and then… that's it, that's all I remember," Elena told him.

"Did you say something about a deal?" Damon asked, getting up from the bed in a blur and moving over to the window.

"Yeah. Why? Does that mean something to you?"

"It might. It could just be someone playing Deal or No Deal… or it could be something else entirely," he said before whipping out his phone and calling Stefan.

In a few minutes, Stefan was barging through the front door and up into Elena's bedroom. He asked Elena to tell him his dream, and she did, not leaving out any of the details and the two brothers put their heads together right away.

"You know what this could be, right?" Damon asked.

"A demon," Stefan answered.

"Whoa, wait, what? A demon? How would you even know that?" Elena interrupted.

"We're old, Elena. We've seen a lot of things. I've never actually met a Hell bitch before, but I've heard plenty of stories about them," Damon said, smirking as he always was.

"They make deals. They possess people. Of course they can get around without having to wear a meatsuit, but demons are ugly sons of bitches without them," Stefan responded.

"Like 'The Exorcist'?" Elena questioned next.

"No, not quite. People's heads don't spin around. Those are children's stories, Elena, come on," Damon scoffed, and she just shrugged in response.

"You said they make deals. What kind of deals?"

"Anything you can think of. You want a new bike, they'll get you one. You want someone gone, they'll make them disappear. You want your loved one to be healthy, they'll cure them," he explained.

"You want to get turned into a vampire-werewolf hybrid…" Elena started, and Damon nodded and winked.

"Now you're getting it."

"Well what's the price?"

"Oh, nothing special, just your soul," Stefan answered her, with a nonchalant attitude.

"Your soul? So… so why was I dreaming about Klaus and demons? Do you think that's how it happened?" Elena asked, and both brothers shrugged.

"Can't really tell you, could be," Stefan responded before walking towards the door. "You've practically slept all day. Get ready for homecoming, you're my date," he winked before walking out.

Elena physically cringed and groaned, falling back in bed and pulling the covers over her head. Couldn't she have just one night free from this compelled Stefan?

Before she knew it the covers were being torn from her bed. _Or even from Damon?_ She thought.

"Get up, Sleeping Beauty. The witch and the vampire will be here soon, and you know they're more dangerous than I am when you've been sleeping all day," he pointed out, and Elena had to nod in agreement. Her two best friends hated when she slept the day away.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting up. What about you? Are you coming to Homecoming tonight?" she asked him, and he smirked at her.

"Well it wouldn't be a Mystic Falls dance unless I crashed it, now would it?" Then just like his brother, he was gone with a wink, leaving Elena alone to think while she waited for her best friends.

When Bonnie and Caroline got there, she was still sitting in bed with that same puzzled expression on her face, and it stayed there the whole time that her friends chastised her for not getting up earlier, and Elena just nodded in agreement, not feeling like arguing over it today. She just couldn't shake that dream.

But she put on a good face for her friends, and together the three girls got ready for the first dance of their senior year. Eventually, Elena put the dream to the back of her mind for the time being, and allowed the excitement to take control of her. She slipped on her dress, which was a simple black strapless that came down to just below her mid-thigh, and bumped up her hair before clipping half of it back. Soon enough, both of her friends were ready and they were hopping into Elena's car and making their way to Mystic Falls High.

The gymnasium was packed already, and the dance had only just begun half an hour ago. The strobe lights were flashing, and the bass from the music beat up through their bodies from the floor. It almost had the feel of a rave, at least that's what Elena first thought of as she passed through the gym doors. It was a surprise to her what the dance turned out like because this was the first year that she had not been on the decorating committee. However, Caroline was and Elena quickly leaned over to shout how good of a job her friend did.

Almost immediately, Stefan was over at them and asking Elena for a dance.

"If I have to," she replied, rolling her eyes, and allowing him to take her hand and lead her to the center of the crowded people already dancing on the floor. As they danced, Elena couldn't help but look around the gym, checking every corner. Any dance that she had been to in the last year had ended badly, so she was a bit on edge.

"Put that dream to the back of your mind, Elena. There's no use thinking about it tonight," Stefan said into her ear, but Elena shook her head.

"I wasn't thinking about that. Haven't you noticed that any dance that the two of us have gone to has ended with someone getting hurt, or something bad happening?"

"I try not to think about the bad things in life," Stefan laughed, mocking her like he always did.

"Okay, I'm done," Elena sighed, trying to pull out of his grasp but he just tightened his hold on her.

"Pretend we're dating, that shouldn't be too hard. Now if we were dating, you would never want to spend a moment away from me. You would want to dance with me until you couldn't dance anymore, right?"

"Funny, it's like Déjà vu. Only I can't pretend, because right now, at this very moment in time, I can't stand you, and I want nothing more than to be away from you," she growled, knowing that her words were not true, but hoping that he wouldn't be able to tell.

"Ouch, Elena, those words hurt you know," Stefan replied, faking hurt.

"Okay, I have to go to the bathroom," Elena announced, quickly spinning away from him and leaving the gymnasium. She really did not have to go to the bathroom, but she needed to get away from him; it hurt too bad to be around him in a setting in which they used to have so much fun together.

As she walked through the dimly lit halls of her high school, she felt a cold shiver run down her spine, and as she was passing the cafeteria, she saw a dark shadow fly past the window. For a moment she paused, frozen in spot by fear, before she took a deep breath and put on her brave face. She slowly pushed open the cafeteria doors and inched inside.

"Hello?" she called out.

The lights started to flicker, and she briefly thought of fleeing the scene and running to find Stefan, but another, stronger thought took hold. She wanted to stay here and see what the deal was for herself. She didn't need anyone to protect her.

"Hello?" she called out again, sounding more confident this time.

"It seems that you have been wanting to see me again," a raspy voice breathed out, and Elena's eyes quickly searched for the source of the sound, and found it at the opposite end of the cafeteria. She knew right away that this was the thing that had chased her in Stefan's bedroom. It was both a gut instinct, and the fact that she remembered its ghoulish yellow eyes from that night. She also now knew what this thing was: a demon.

"It's you, you attacked me at the Salvatore's house," she managed to choke out.

"I wouldn't call it attacking. If I wanted you dead, you would be," the screechy voice said again, still remaining to come out of the shadows.

"Come into the light. I want to see who's talking to me." Elena was surprised at how demanding her tone of voice was. She didn't falter or give her fear away at all.

"As you wish."

The creature stepped out into the dim light of the cafeteria, and it was all Elena could do not to let her mouth drop open in shock. This thing was not what she expected a demon to look like at all. It might be a little cliché, but she was imagining it as a tiny red creature, with a long pointed tail, yellow eyes, and horns on top of its head. The color of this demon was far from red, but rather a dull gray, with wrinkly skin. It was shorter than she pictured it being as well, and it did not have a tail either. But its eyes were exactly as she remembered them being: yellow and terrifying.

"So if you didn't want to kill me, what did you want with me?" she questioned it.

"We are looking for someone, and I can sense that you have been near him," the thing answered her.

"Who are you searching for?"

"Someone you know very well. Someone you fear, and with good reason. Niklaus," it responded, causing her eyes to go wide.

"And what do you want with Klaus?" she asked, her arms folding across her chest.

If it was possible, Elena was positive that the demon smirked at her.

"His time is up."

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: To start off, I hope everyone had great holidays! I am so so sorry for the ridiculously long wait for this chapter. As I said in the first chapter, posting this story was an impulse reaction, and probably a stupid one at that. Normally I make sure that I have at least half of the story written before I actually post it here so that I am regularly able to update, but for this one I only had the first chapter done when I posted it. Which was probably a stupid decision, seeing as it took me at least a month to get this next chapter up after the last. So again, please forgive me, I'm very sorry.<strong>_

_**On a further note, thank you to everyone who has added this story to their alerts and have commented so far. Please keep it coming, it means so much to me, and thank you very much for reading :)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: Even after the long wait, nothing about the Vampire Diaries can be called mine.**_

_****The italics sections is a flashback._

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><p>Elena paced around her bedroom, listening to Bonnie describe all of the ways that her plan could backfire, all of which she herself had already pondered over.<p>

"Bonnie, I know the risks, but… but Bonnie… Stefan. This could be our only chance. I have to take it, and I really need your help."

Bonnie sighed. "When have I ever denied you anything, Elena?" She then got up from the bed and made her way towards the door. "I'll see what I can find, if there's even anything to find."

With that being said, Bonnie gave Elena a small smile before taking her leave. Immediately, Elena started pacing again, only to be interrupted by Ric.

"Are you going to tell either of them about this?" He did not have to say the names in order for Elena to know who he was talking about.

"No, if Stefan knew… let's just say that I can't trust him enough right now to keep it to himself. And Damon would just try to stop me."

"You know that he's going to be furious with you for keeping this from him," Ric pointed out, stepping into the room.

Elena sighed and plopped down onto her bed.

"I know, but… I don't know. He cares too much. He's determined to keep me safe, and I'm grateful for that, I am, but sometimes I feel suffocated."

"He loves you…"

"Don't say that."

Elena knew that it was true. It was there in the way that he looked at her, the way he protected her, and comforted her. There were times when she felt closer to Damon than Stefan, or anyone else for that matter. They had fun together, when they had time to have fun, and she could connect with him in ways that were different from anyone else. She cared about him very much. But none of that changed a thing. What she felt for Damon could never amount to what she felt for Stefan, and that made her feel horrible. Some days she felt that she was turning into a monster, someone who could manipulate and use someone else's feelings for her to benefit her, someone like…

"Katherine."

"What?"

"Am I turning into Katherine?" she whispered, her voice laced with fear.

Ric rushed to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. "Elena, you could never be Katherine."

"But I'm stringing him along the way that Katherine did, just because I don't want to lose him," she cried.

"No, listen to me. Katherine is evil, and manipulative, and deceitful. She treated Damon and Stefan as playthings. She convinced Damon she loved him, and then pulled it all out from underneath him. You are none of that, Elena. The difference between you and Katherine is that you can feel, you have a heart. She never felt anything. Don't you ever think for a second that you could be anything like her."

Ric's voice was strong and comforting, yet also had a demanding tone to it. "Don't worry about Damon right now. Just focus on what you have to do."

Elena nodded, trusting to believe him for the time being. He left her alone to strategize, but she was soon interrupted once more.

Though Ric tried to calm him down, and keep him from going upstairs, a very angry Damon stormed through the house and up to Elena's room.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing, Elena, trusting demons?"

"Bonnie told you?"

"Of course she did, Elena, you're being stupid!" In a second he had her pinned against the wall, his arms on either side of her face. "Demons can't be trusted!"

"This one can," she argued.

"They're all liars, Elena! The only way to get them on your side is by making a deal and promising them your soul in return. Oh Elena… you didn't…" His eyes went from angry to scared in a blink, and he shouted, "Tell me, Elena! Tell me what happened when you met the demon!"

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><p>"<em>His time is up."<em>

"_What do you mean his time is up?" Elena asked._

_The demon circled her, moving slowly. _

"_Centuries ago we were called to a village surrounded by men of the moon, one of our creations. A boy summoned us to this village, wanting to be a man of the moon, as well as a man of the night, to have the power of both creatures so that he could be invincible and protect his family. We gave him 100 years with those powers, and once the 100 years were up, we would come back to take what is ours. But when it came time to collect, we could not find him," the creature explained in a hissing tone._

"_So Klaus has been in hiding for centuries, and you're just now finding him? How is that possible?" Elena asked._

"_It appears that he had a sorceress for a mother. She kept him safe, and when we came to her to find the boy, she gave us nothing. So we locked her in a coffin to rot for all of eternity. That necklace you're wearing has the scent of her, and the scent of him on it. And once it was put onto a human with blood rushing through their veins, we were able to find it. The scent is very strong. Now where is Niklaus?"_

_Elena thought for a moment. She could tell this demon right now where Klaus was, and not get anything in return, leaving Stefan the way that he was, or she could bargain._

"_If I give you Klaus, there's something I want in return," she told the thing._

_The demon wobbled over to her, its yellow eyes never once leaving her. "And what might that be?"_

"_I want you to free Stefan Salvatore from Klaus's compulsion. In return, I will hand deliver Klaus to you."_

"_Do you want to make a deal?" the creature asked, its eyes twinkling._

"_No, no deals. But if you don't free Stefan, then I won't give you Klaus. And you'll have to kill me. And if you do that, my friends will hunt you down until they find you, and kill you. So what do you say?" Elena asked, knowing that she had this monster in the bag. She could tell that there was nothing the demons wanted more right now than to find Klaus and take him. _

_The demon backed away from her, muttering words in Latin under its breath. A gulf of fire blew up from the ground and wrapped itself around Elena, though they were not hot. The flames closed in around her, until they were completely hooked onto her body, and then they disappeared, flowing inside of her. _

"_In three nights from now, at midnight, you will have Klaus ready for us. Those flames are a tracking device. We will be able to find you. If he is there, we will set your friend free. It is in your best favor to make sure that Klaus is with you. It would not do well for you to upset a demon."_

_With that, the creature disappeared, leaving Elena standing alone in the middle of the cafeteria._

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><p>"So you didn't make a deal? You'll still have your soul at the end of this?" Damon questioned.<p>

"Yes. My soul will still be intact and mine at the end of this. We're so close, Damon. Soon, Klaus will be gone, and Stefan will be back to normal, and we can live again," Elena sighed, smiling at him.

Damon backed away from her, running a hand through his hair, thinking hard. This was dangerous, very dangerous. If things went wrong, a lot of people could get hurt. Elena could get hurt. But if things went right, Klaus would be gone forever, and they would not have to live in fear anymore. He turned back and around and looked at the girl before him.

"So what's the plan?"

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>_ _Ugh, I am so so sorry for the long wait! I've had issues for the past month and a half with my computer and my hard drive just completely dying on me. And on top of that I've been so busy with this semester I can hardly keep track of anything that is going on. I hope everyone can forgive me, and that interest in this story has not been completely lost. Thank you to everyone who has read so far, and reviewed, and added this story to their alerts. It means so much to me! Please let me know what you think. Thanks :)_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: Same as it always is.**_

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><p>It seemed that Stefan had come home at just the right time. His brother and Elena were having what sounded to be like a heated discussion in the living room. He snuck over to the door and listened.<p>

"I don't know, Elena…" Damon said.

"Damon, it's the only way. I don't want to live like this anymore. Pining after someone who clearly doesn't want me, under surveillance 24/7, or being Klaus' human blood bag. Damon, if you do this for me, we can leave and never look back," she responded, her voice pleading with him.

"It would be nice not having to watch you every move all the time. The whole damsel-in-distress thing is getting pretty old. But what about the other side of you? The one that cares too much about your friends. What about them?"

There was a pause in the conversation before she answered him. "They'll all be better off without me. Please, Damon."

"What are you two blabbing about?" Stefan decided to make his presence known and stepped around the corner of the wall.

"Nothing, Stefan. It's none of your business," Elena said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Well, actually, I think anything that has to do with your turning into a vampire is my business," he said with a chuckle.

"Dude, since you don't care about her anymore, what she wants is not up to you," Damon retorted, eyeing Stefan dangerously.

His younger brother laughed menacingly, before shoving Damon against the wall.

"Don't you think about it, brother. You know that Klaus needs her alive for his hybrids."

"Guys, cool it," Elena sighed.

"You don't have to worry about it, brother."

"Good, keep it that way." With that being said, Stefan left the house, with the intention of telling Klaus everything that he had heard.

Klaus was very pleased with him. He ordered Stefan to keep tabs on Damon and Elena, and to feed so that he would be strong enough for a fight if things came down to it, which they probably would. So, he stayed out late hunting, and arrived home just in time to see Elena and Damon driving away in secret. He followed them, curiosity and suspicion clouding his mind seeing as it was after eleven at night, and tracked them to the falls. He watched them get out and start a fire, then he called Klaus.

Once he hung up, he got out of the car and snuck behind a tree. Elena paced back and forth in front of the fire as Damon watched her every step.

"Are you sure about this, Elena? You don't have to do this," he told her.

"Yes, I do, Damon. I just need a minute… to let it sink in and to work up the courage."

A million thoughts were running through his head. That was the thing about his compulsion; Klaus could make Stefan do his bidding, could make him like a complete dick, but he could not stop his thoughts. They always broke through the barrier. And right now he was thinking about the pros and cons of Elena being turned into a vampire.

Pros: she would be around forever, if he ever got let free he could chase her and beg for her forgiveness for as long as it took.

Cons: she did not really want this life, she was only doing it to escape Klaus, so she would be miserable, and she would be with Damon.

His vision clouded with red at that last thought.

If Elena ever decided to change, Stefan had always wanted to be the one to do it. That would bring them even closer together, and would strengthen their bond… The walls closed in around his thoughts, pushing them in until they were no more, literally bringing him to his knees. Klaus' voice echoed through his head. "Turn it off!"

Stefan covered his ear and bit his lip to keep from shouting out. Once all of the sentimental thoughts were gone, he got up and moved towards the clearing, the only thought left being that he could not let Elena turn because Klaus needed her human.

"Bad move, Damon. Thought I didn't have to worry?" he said.

"I lied," Damon shrugged, smirking.

"Well, I called Klaus. He should be here any second to rip you to shreds for trying to take away his most prized possession," Stefan threatened.

"He's right you know," a voice said from behind the trees before Klaus stepped out in front of them.

"Now it's a party," Damon said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"Stefan, take care of your brother while I deal with Elena," Klaus ordered, and Stefan couldn't help but attack.

"Elena, I thought we had a deal. Things were running so smoothly, and everyone was just starting to get along," Klaus sighed dramatically, "Me and my sister were feeling so at home, and now you lot can't be trusted again."

"Speaking of Rebekah, have you seen her today? Oh, wait, you couldn't have… because I staked her this morning so that she wouldn't be in the way."

Klaus had been slowly advancing towards her, but at those words he stopped.

"You what?" his voice took on a deadly tone and his face contorted in rage.

From the corner of her eye, Elena could see Stefan and Damon fighting hard.

"She's locked in the Salvatore's basement, and that's where she'll stay to rot for the rest of eternity," she growled, turning her attention back to Klaus.

His eyes narrowed and he advanced towards her once more.

Just as he was about to attack, Elena shouted, "Now Bonnie!" and Klaus feel to the ground, his hands gripping at his head as Bonnie came out of the woods, keeping him locked under her spell.

Elena immediately started chanting in Latin, saying the same words that Klaus had used when he first summoned the demon. As she chanted, she pulled out a sharp knife from her back pocket and kneeled down next to Klaus. Adding to the pain that he already felt from Bonnie's spell, she put the knife to his arm and looked him straight in the eyes as she the blade across his skin. She held his arm out away from his body, and allowed the blood to trickle to the ground. Where the blood landed, the ground started to quake and slowly opened up.

"Have fun in Hell, Klaus," Elena whispered, right as Stefan tackled Bonnie to the ground, releasing Klaus from her spell.

Elena's eyes widened in fright as he slowly rose from the ground, the smirk on his face even more terrifying than the glare he had on just moments before. She had not accounted for this.

"You know, I give you credit for trying. Pretending that you were going to become a vampire knowing that Stefan would tell me was quite creative. But did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?"

She tried to get off of the ground, but Klaus was far too fast for her. He kicked her in the stomach, sending her back to the ground, and then he knelt over her.

"Obviously I can't kill you, but I can torture you quite a bit," he lightly traced a finger down her jaw line, "Any last words, Elena?"

"Just two. Venite huc."

Fire burst up from the now bottomless pit that had opened up in the ground from Klaus' blood. It lashed out and flew straight at the hybrid. He shot up and tried to get away, but once he was not fast enough. The flames grabbed him around the ankle tripping him and dragging him to the pit. He was screaming, begging for help, but no one came to help him. Elena watched, hard faced, as the flames sucked Klaus down and the ground closed up once more, silencing his screams forever.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>So after another long break, which I apologize for, that was the next chapter. This was the chapter that I was most looking forward to writing, and I think it turned out alright. Let me know if you think so too! Thanks to everyone who keeps adding this story to all of their alerts, and thanks to all who have reviewed! It always means so much to me. Keep it up, and thanks again :)_


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